Defense Technology International - September 2007 - (Page 42) PATROL VEHICLES ARMORED TRUTH WILL OUT IN U.K. COMPETITION JORIS JANSSEN LOK•THE HAGUE One of the biggest competitions for a protected armored vehicle is underway in Britain. The Future Rapid Effects System program, or FRES, could result in expenditures of £16 billion ($32.4 billion) for procurement of as many as 3,500 8 X 8-wheeled utility vehicles designed along the lines of the U.S. Stryker, but with better protection against IEDs and kinetic threats. The goal is to specify a design that combines survivability, mobility and capacity. The vehicle must also be transportable in the Airbus Military A400M aircraft, of which the U.K. has 25 on order. The Ministry of Defense announced on June 7 the vehicles that will participate in the so-called “Trials of Truth,” which began in mid-July and run through September at the Armored Trials and Development Unit in Bovington, England. They include: Boxer, from the Artec German-Dutch consortium of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Rheinmetall Landsysteme and Stork PWV. VBCI, from Nexter and Renault Trucks of France. Piranha V, from Mowag of Switzerland, a General Dynamics company working through General Dynamics UK. Not selected was Britain’s armored vehicle powerhouse BAE Systems, which proposed a high-tech design based on the Sep 8 X 8 integrated technology demonstrator from BAE Systems Hagglunds of Sweden. Nor did Iveco of Italy and Patria of Finland make the cut. The Boxer results from a multinational development program that initially involved Britain and France. A total of 472 Boxers are under contract—272 for Germany, 200 for the Netherlands—and the design incorporates changeable mission modules for different Piranha Evolution, General needs. The Boxer Dynamics’ stand-in for is the heaviest of the future Piranha V, has the candidates, enhanced survivability and a weighing around versatile electronics system. 33 tons. France developed the VBCI after it left the program that produced the Boxer. The French military is procuring 700 of them— 550 in a personnel transport and patrol variant and 150 in a command-vehicle version. The VBCI weighs up to 28 tons depending on protection (DTI May, p. 28). The Piranha V from General Dynamics UK is still on the drawing board, which is why a vehicle called the Piranha Evolution is in the trials. This is an updated derivative of Mowag’s 25-ton Piranha IV. The Piranha V will be 27-28 tons. General Dynamics UK says the Evolution features more robust suspension, brakes and differential than the Piranha IV, as well Boxer is the heavyweight as enhanced surviv- champ of the competition, ability and electronic weighing about 33 tons. architecture designed The multinational design in-house. This last in- utilizes mission modules cludes the British Ar- for different patrol needs. my’s Bowman tactical communications system and an end-to-end diagnosticsand use-monitoring system, which General Dynamics claims none of the other vehicles has. The Piranha V should be available in 2012. It will reportedly have better modular protection against blasts, landmines, fragmentation and IEDs, improved electrical power generation and a payload greater than the 10-ton limit of the Piranha IV, a representative claims. The outcome of the trials will be announced by late November. Vehicles selected will undergo more detailed performance assessments. Where the vehicles will be built is unclear. None of the contenders (including General Dynamics) owns a U.K.-based plant suitable for manufacturing these vehicles. “Our guess is that the government The Renault/Nexter VBCI will make directions already has won a 700as to where the ve- vehicle contract from the hicles are to be built French army. and that this will be in-country,” a source close to the program says. The British Army also has a requirement for approximately 180 Medium Protected Patrol Vehicles, for service entry in early 2009. The MPPV will be a wheeled vehicle with a gross weight of about 14 tons that carries seven soldiers, is highly mobile and protects against ballistic, blast, landmine and fragmentation threats. MPPVs are required for a range of patrol tasks and are expected to operate on roads and rough tracks in urban, semiurban and rural environments. They also need cross-country mobility. Press reports state that more than 40 companies want to compete in the program, which could be worth up to £100 million ($200 million). I NEXTER/RENAULT ARTEC • • • GENERAL DYNAMICS UK 42 DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2007 www.aviationweek.com/dti http://www.aviationweek.com/dti
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